Cleveland Regional Jetport is a public

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

located near the community of Tasso, Tennessee, US, approximately four miles north of the business district of

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

. Opened on January 25, 2013, it is owned by the City of Cleveland and serves Cleveland and Bradley County.

Facilities

The airport contains a 6,200 foot by 100 foot

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

runway, an 8,000 square foot terminal building, a thirty-five foot wide

taxiway A taxiway is a path for aircraft at an airport connecting runways with Airport apron, aprons, hangars, Airport terminal, terminals and other facilities. They mostly have a hard surface such as Asphalt concrete, asphalt or concrete, although sma ...

, a 311,452 square foot

apron An apron is a garment worn over other clothing to cover the front of the body to protect from liquids. They have several purposes, most commonly as a functional accessory that protects clothes and skin from stains and marks. However, other typ ...

, and twenty

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

History

Background

Cleveland Regional Jetport was constructed to replace Hardwick Field, established in 1955 and located about to the west. Hardwick field consisted of a

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

runway. By the early 1970s, many local leaders had come to view Hardwick Field's facilities as inadequate for the community. In 1973, a newly elected city commissioner proposed a new general aviation airport for the city to be constructed at a new site, and later that year, a proposal was unveiled to double the length of the runway to . Further efforts continued throughout the 1980s. In 1991, then-newly elected mayor of Cleveland Tom Rowland set a goal for a new general aviation airport for the city. A study commissioned by the city in 1994 identified 18 possible sites for a new airport, including the one near the Tasso community. The push for a new airport was further energized in March 2000, when then-governor

Don Sundquist Donald Kenneth Sundquist (March 15, 1936 – August 27, 2023) was an American businessman and politician who served as the 47th governor of Tennessee from 1995 to 2003. Prior to his governorship, he represented Tennessee's 7th congressional dis ...

flew into Hardwick Field and expressed his opinion that the facility was the "worst airport in the state."In 2004, the Cleveland City Council authorized the creation of the Cleveland Municipal Airport Authority. On January 28, 2005, several proposals to lengthen and expand the runway at Hardwick Field, which would have required additional purchased land, were presented to the airport authority. At the time, then-chairwoman of the airport authority Lynn Devault expressed doubt that another site would be found for a new airport. Many residents living around the airport expressed opposition to these proposals, and requested that the city pursue and new site instead. After the proposed expansions of Hardwick Field were ruled unfeasible, the airport authority began reviewing sites from the 1994 study, and settled on the site on Dry Valley Road, then a series of farms. This proposal was also met with opposition, however. The authority, which chose not to acquire land via

eminent domain Eminent domain, also known as land acquisition, compulsory purchase, resumption, resumption/compulsory acquisition, or expropriation, is the compulsory acquisition of private property for public use. It does not include the power to take and t ...

, soon worked a deal with the property owners to sell the land, and on August 21, 2006, the Bradley County Commission voted 10–4 to rezone the property. On April 11, 2007, then-governor

Phil Bredesen Philip Norman Bredesen Jr. (; born November 21, 1943) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 48th governor of Tennessee from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was elected in ...

announced that the state would provide a $4.35 million aeronautics grant for property acquisition and preliminary engineering for an

environmental impact statement An environmental impact statement (EIS), under United States environmental law, is a document required by the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for certain actions "significantly affecting the quality of the human environment". An E ...

of the property.

Construction

Construction of the new airport was split into three phases. The contract for phase one of construction, which including wetland mitigation and preliminary work, was signed on November 20, 2009. The project officially began on April 19, 2010. Phase 2 was awarded on September 20, 2010. This phase involved leveling and excavating 2.2 million cubic yards of dirt onto the site and slightly rerouting and constructing a culvert over a small stream which ran through the site. Construction of the new airport also required the relocation of Tasso Road, which ran through the property. This was accomplished by rerouting the road around the airport, creating a straight stretch nearly long parallel to the runway, which some have come to jokingly nickname the airport's second runway. The name Cleveland Regional Jetport was selected by the airport authority on December 16, 2011. The contract for the final phase of construction, the construction of the runway, was awarded on April 20, 2012. The jetport officially opened on January 25, 2013, with a runway. Hardwick Field closed on December 31, 2013. The entire project cost $42.32 million, with $36.376 coming from the state and federal government, $5.943 from the city, and additional funds coming from private donors, including businessman Allan Jones.

Later history

The jetport was named Airport of the Year by the Tennessee Aeronautics Commission (TEC) in March 2014. In 2017 the runway was extended to 6,200 ft.

References